Some Sad News Today Mommie Dearest, so called because when we pulled her from the extremely high kill North Central LA Shelter in Nov. 2003, she immediately gave birth, the same day I believe, to 7 adorable puppies. After all those puppies were weaned, she nursed another batch of motherless puppies for Much Love Rescue. The name started as a sort of joke, because she actually was a great mother to all those pups, but as is often the case, the name that started as a joke, stuck. We should have just called her, Dearest because she was. She was diagnosed with heart disease about 2 years ago, then in Sept. 2014, a malignant tumor was found, which despite immediate radical surgery, had already spread to one lymph node and has invaded her vascular system. About 3 weeks after the surgery, she lost her vision all at once. Yet, she, and we, carried on. It was clear to us that she had a strong will to live, and could find something to enjoy: our affection, special meals: fatty pot roast with brown rice and kale, and just sitting in the sun. Despite her limitations, she never once had a potty accident in the house. She knew how to let us know that she had to go, even if lately, we had to pick up up and carry her outside. We had some some ups and downs during this time. 3 times I called a wonderful home euthanasia vet, Dr. Nick Fox, but it was as if she heard me. She would get up on her own and almost prance around as if to demonstrate that she was still very much alive, thank you very much. The last time this happened, I asked Dr. Fox to come over anyway to meet her, which he did, spending more than an hour at out house with her, in late November. He agreed with us (me and Peter and Mommie) that she wasnt ready yet. This morning she lost her valiant battle to stay on this earthy plane. Things went downhill so quickly, there was no time to have the in-home vet visit I had planned. Fortunately, a dear friend, Dr. Gary Adams, is now in practice literally 5 minutes away at Century Vet Group. Ive known Gary, we figured out today, for 17 years. He was our best rescue friendly vet when he was at CA Animal Hosp. on Sepulveda, in the earliest days of BF. He is so kind and caring and his heart is in the best place toward rescue. Mommie was in pain this morning, so we gave her 2 Tramadol, which relieved her suffering. The meds kicked in quickly and mercifully, the rest was very peaceful. I was so grateful to have someone I know, who is so kind, to help with the final transition. If there is a heaven, she is there now with Bill and Pal, and Annie and Patrick, Augustus and Theo, our pre-BF dogs, meaning adopted on purpose and our Bill dogs: Mitchell, Petunia, Quincy and Bobby, Edith Anne and Langley, Walker, Guido, Lentil, and Hunter. These are all dogs who lived with us as long term fosters. And I left out Monty and Bart, who were early unadoptables due to age, and in Barts case, temperament ;-). Oh, and there was Greta too, who was very fond of stealth biting. But we loved her still. All I can say is it doesnt get any easier to let them go. They all were and are loved. This is a photo of Mommie with her best friend Abel (also 16). Mommie is the one on the right. The other photo is of Mommie and Jo this morning. J.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 22:13:56 +0000